The Kremlin’s pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko is growing

President of Belarus A. Lukashenko and President of Russia V. Putin played ice hockey in the Olympic palace in Sochi. This is already the second meeting of the heads of states within less than a month, which is determined by the intensified pressure from Moscow to establish the Eurasian Economic Union.

This is confirmed by the demand of Russian Prime Minister D. Medvedev, which followed the meeting of the presidents, to agree upon the draft treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union by April 17, 2014. The Kremlin is still taking advantage of the weakening of the Belarusian state and strengthening its presence in Belarus in exchange for short-term preferences offered to official Minsk. This year Russia’s presence in the Belarusian economy will be reinforced by privatization of some of the state assets by Russian companies.